


When Foxes Come Out to Play

by TheWaitingFangirl



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 18:11:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11318856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWaitingFangirl/pseuds/TheWaitingFangirl
Summary: You're an assassin working with Ezio at Rome during its liberation. After a mission goes bad, you're left injured and sulking; contemplating your disinterest in a love life as you try to recover.***You didn’t plan on getting shot by an arrow.Well, not really.All that mattered, at that moment, was the mission, until the fight broke out — a fight that only happened because someone couldn’t stick to the plan you so carefully traced; a plan that was, mind you, quite simple. Enter the fortress unnoticed, find the Holy Staff, leave and return it the to the Vatican.Simple.





	When Foxes Come Out to Play

**Author's Note:**

> I confess I got a bit carried away at that one and when I noticed I had almost 2500 words! I’m sorry if something is off or wrong grammatically or in the canon, I sold my PS3 and couldn’t come back to check everything in the game, so I tried to do my best with what I can actually remember from it and from Volpe. SORRY ABOUT THE THE SHIT TON OF ITALIAN EXPRESSIONS, I HAVE A FRIEND WHO’S TAKING ITALIAN CLASSES AND I ASKED HIM FOR HELP. Sorry for the long wait, I’ve just entered into vacancy and I’m trying to dedicate myself more into the blog matters. As to not make this longer than it should, I’ll only translate the more “complicated” italian words! I apologize in advance for no one beta’d this before posting.

You didn’t plan on getting shot by an arrow.

Well, not really.

All that mattered, at that moment, was the mission, until the fight broke out — a fight that only happened because  _someone_  couldn’t stick to the plan you so carefully traced; a plan that was, mind you, quite simple. Enter the fortress unnoticed, find the Holy Staff, leave and return it the to the Vatican.

_Simple._

Well, that  _was_  the plan — until one of the guards decided to cover more area in the patrol rather than sticking to the already scheduled area you had so  _carefully_  traced before deciding to get in. But the thing is, your plan had it covered  — it was failproof, you see.

And  _then_ , there was him. Fabio.

The walking disaster.

Fabio wasn’t by far your favorite apprentice in the Roman Order, but you two worked well enough when such was the need. Despite the man entering the order just before you, you deemed him clumsy and ill-tempered; always eager to pick up a fight and willing to send the stealth out the window — reason why you ranked up faster than him and became an assassin first, much to his dismay.

You could tell the exact moment the guard noticed him, raising his voice and asking the man what he was doing up there — since  _goddamned_ Fabio couldn’t be bothered to crouch and allow the target to  _turn_ around before taking them down.

No, Fabio had to pull his butcher knife and jump onto the man for the kill. The angry screams and loud thumping sounds as the men squirmed on the floor alerted the other guards to your presence and sent the mission to the airs — you  _swear_.

“Assassini!” the captain of the guard barked and all hell went loose and you could hear Ezio cursing beside you before you both went into action.

There was fighting and blood and screaming. You took most of the archers before they could shoot at Ezio and Fabio — who were at the middle of the fighting, your  _Mentore_  swinging his sword easily, spinning to dodge the attacks before recovering and attacking again; Fabio fighting in a much more clumsy and violent way than the most of the apprentices you’ve ever seen.

And then, just when you prepared to jump down and join the fight, already aiming at one of the bulkier guards, it came to you.

The bolt hit your shoulder, a white-hot and lacerating pain quickly spreading through your whole body as you groaned and fell down the roof into the dusty courtyard; the iron tip of it rasping unpleasantly against the stone floor of the fortress. You groaned in agony, clutching your arm and gritting your teeth in an attempt to keep your scream in. Fabio spun around, catching eye of you hurt and quickly looking around to look for your shooter. You caught eye of movement in the second floor balcony and, true to your senses, there was the captain of the fortress aiming his bow on you once more.

“Ezio!” Fabio yelled, shoving one of the most agile guards against the wall, going for slitting his throat. “The balcony!”

You closed your eyes, throwing your head back as the tension in your shoulders made the thick wooden body of the arrow move; your assassin white robes starting to soak with blood — your blood —, and you started fearing you might not make it. When you cracked your eyes open again, you saw Ezio pulling the captain off the balcony; the man falling into the courtyard as Fabio obstructed your vision, crouching beside you and helping you up.

 “Are you alright, Y/N?” Fabio asked worriedly, guilt covered eyes peering down at you as he wrapped your good arm around his neck.

“ _Merda_ , Fabio!” you berated, swallowing thickly as he did his best not to hurt you further. “I’ve told you to wait,  _coglione_!

The man flinched slightly, looking away as Ezio came back to both of you, a little breathless, but unharmed. “ _Cazzo_ …” the man swore, looking at you before looking back at his apprentice “You’ll have to go back with Y/N to the  _Isola Tiberina_. Ask Leonardo to take a look at her as soon as you get there” Fabio nodded, proceeding to move along, dragging you with him back to the hideout “and when I’m back, I’ll deal with you. Is that clear, Fabio?” Ezio hissed through his teeth.

“ _Sì, Mentore_ ” he replied meekly, but you could feel his body tensing slightly beside you.

“ _Bene_.” Ezio nodded. “Go now, waste no time. I shall return before the sun goes down.”

* * *

You wheezed in pain, clutching to Leonardo’s arm as he pressed his hand to your bleeding shoulder, his hand steady and expression focused as he asked for a dagger do discard of your shirt. You could hardly remember what happened during the whole thing, the pain causing you to drift into and off consciousness. The leather strap shoved roughly into your mouth to keep you from biting your tongue off doing little to muffle your screams as Giacomo and Fabio held you down so Leonardo could work, cleaning and stitching it to the best of his ability.

You never liked being shirtless in front of this many people — even though the bathhouse was shared by you and many others in the Order, the nudity wasn’t the bothersome part of it.

It was, mostly, your marking.

A big, darker patch of skin in the format of fox head spread between your shoulder blades. It wasn’t common for people to have such big marks — your mother had told you once that “the bigger is the marking, the more important the person will impact your life” and, honestly, you were happy with your position in the Roman Brotherhood. You didn’t want this to change, you dared say you didn’t want to find your soulmate, mindful of the intense connection that would happen straight away and, most likely, making everything you worked so hard for seem unappealing in the blink of an eye.

Not to mention…  _a fox_? You had never heard of or seen people with marks that resembled this animal. It was, mostly, crosses, arrows, domestic animals — even though those were harder to find, you’ve only ever seen one person in the possession of one — and random patterns imprinted into the skin.

You sighed, slowly opening an eye and staring at the door of the infirmary — only two other members were in the room, Alberto with sore muscles from training and Carla with a sprained ankle; both content with just soaking into the quiet bliss Giacomo, the unofficial Brotherhood doctor, offered in his workstation. Leonardo had been gone for quite a while and you hadn’t bothered to put on a new, clean shirt; knowing you’d have to take it off to change your bandages and apply more ointment in no more than a few hours, but at least Leonard had had the decency of wrapping the bandages thickly around your torso in an attempt to keep your modesty away — and you’d make sure to thank him for it later.

True to his words, Ezio entered the room in a brisk walk, a man of medium stature and brown clothes trailing right after him, eyeing the room with mistrust before relaxing; approaching your makeshift bed as Ezio pushed his hood down. “How are you feeling, Y/N?”

You huffed, closing your eyes before giving him a smirk. “Like shit,  _amico mio_.”

Ezio sighed, shaking his head slightly before giving you a matching smile. “I’m glad to see that Leonardo took good care of you.” He stood aside, motioning towards the other man who stood quietly beside him. “This is  _La Volpe_ , our contact in the guild of thieves and their leader in Rome.”

Your eyebrows shot up, first at the name — fox? — and secondly at the importance of the man standing before you, right now, with you wounded and curled on your side. You cursed mentally, eyeing Ezio with a venomous stare, your  _Mentore_  drawing breath to speak something else—

The man,  _La Volpe_ , cut in with a pleasant smile. “Pleased to meet you…?”

You pressed your lips together, forcing yourself to sit down in the stiff bedding to greet him properly; your arm uselessly tied into the sling Leonardo had improvised for you. “Y/N,  _messere_.”

He nodded in acknowledgement, eyes shifting towards Ezio in a manner to indicate him and you noticed he had violet eyes. “Ezio told me about what happened on our way back into the hideout.”

“ _Sì_. I know you need to rest, worry not. Leonardo made this…  _very_  clear to me on our way in.”

You chuckled, hissing a bit as the movement immediately hurt you despite the soothing effect the ointment your friend had prepared earlier for the injury. You knew how fierce Leonardo could be when he wanted to, despite his sweet and aloof nature; but the question blossomed into your mind as soon as the pain subsided.“Is your name truly  _La Volpe_?”

The stranger smiled, blinking once before making a small curtsy “Gilberto is the name,  _mia dama_ ; but I prefer  _Volpe_.”

You nodded in respect, not bothering with his request. You knew of a few apprentices from the poorer districts of Rome who ended up adopting a new name or, even, their nicknames instead of the given names by their families. Some wanted to forget the past, others wanted to keep their personal lives away from the Brotherhood business — and you respected that, just as Ezio always did —, although you wondered his reason why.

“As I said,  _Volpe_  found me on my way here and decided to accompany me on the visit to an injured sister and, coincidentally, I haven’t introduced you yet.” Ezio kept going, motioning towards the newcomer and then you.

“Hardly the best time to meet new people, I’d say” you chided, smirking at _La Volpe_ and receiving a matching one in return. It was strange, you thought idly. Usually you didn’t smile or felt at ease with strangers around — not even from within the Brotherhood —, but you felt at an odd sensation of calm around that man bearing a serious expression at you.

“I have to agree with the  _dama_  my friend” _Volpe_ chuckled, changing the weight of his body from one leg to another, hands coming up to his hips as he loosened up.

Ezio huffed, laughing as he took one hand to his chest in a mocking offended demeanor. “You can’t blame me for wanting to bring people together. I’m nothing but a man who longs for seeing his friends get acquainted with each other!”

“ _Sì_ ,” you rasped with a smirk “and I’m best friends with the Pope, Ezio.”

_La Volpe_  chuckled, violet gaze shifting towards Ezio as he tsked and threw his hand up with a smile, then looked back at you with something akin to amusement and fondness at once. You saw the man draw breath, as if ready to speak something when the door opened again, Leonardo entering with Giacomo on his heels, holding an armful of clean linens and dried herbs to be grinded.

“Y/N!” Leonardo greeted in his usual cheery tone, a warm smile spreading through his features as he saw you up. “Are those two keeping you from sleep,  _mia cara_?” You rolled your eyes playfully, shaking your head slightly as Leonardo’s smile widened even more. “I’m afraid I’ll have to change your wrappings once more, make sure it’s not inflamed, I’m sure you know the drill.”

“ _Sì,_ Leonardo” you sighed, frowning your lips at the thought of having Leonardo poking around your sore and stiff shoulder once again.

“ _Grazie_  for your patience, Y/N.” Leonardo bowed his head at you as he saw you squirm uncomfortably on the stretcher when Giacomo put the linens beside you and moved quietly towards the pestle to mow herbs for the other patients. “It won’t be long”, he soothed in an understanding voice. “ _Volpe_ , can you please bring me the water basil with the flannel in it?”

The thief nodded silently, moving behind to the other side of the bed as Leonardo unwrapped the blood-soiled linens from your body and gazed onto the wound. “Mhm. Interesting. The ointment kept it from inflaming, but I recommend you to stay upon rest for two weeks or so as to not risk compromising the movement of the arm or the shoulder, as well as to avoid a future inflammation…” You bit your lip in annoyance. Almost a whole month put out because of a stupid mistake from an apprentice. You swore you were going to beat the shit out of Fabio in training next time. “Ah  _grazie, Volpe_.”

You shifted slightly, bothered at feeling someone’s eyes staring at the back of your head and Ezio uncrossed his arms, gaze resting at some point over your head with a hint of worry. “Are you feeling ill,  _amico mio_?”. At this, you craned your head slightly as to look back on  _Volpe_ , his eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar as he stared at you.

“What—“ you started with a frown at the same moment his hand rose up, fingers delicately finding your mark and traced it with calloused fingertips and then—

Then you felt it.

The warmth and relief you have heard many people talk about, the nuisance of fingers onto your shoulders suddenly falling into the background as the sensation spread down your spine and into your limbs. You heard  _Volpe_  suck in a breath, shivering in delight as he obviously felt the same way as you, his other hand slowly coming up to touch your unharmed shoulder in an attempt to anchor himself as you both tried to process the sudden rush of information in your brain, his fingers slowly curling around your shoulder in a sweet and reassuring gesture.

“ _Mio Dio_ ” you heard Ezio mutter somewhere in front of you. “I would never have guessed…”

Leonardo hummed in agreement “Fascinating, fascinating indeed!”

You didn’t need to look back to know that  _Volpe_  shuffled back, circling the makeshift bedding to stand in front of you in hurried steps; hands caressing your cheeks as his eyes searched for yours almost immediately — eyes of the clear evening sky after the sunset, of the clearest and most intense purple you could ever compare them to and that was the only thing in your mind as the thief leaned into you, his shaky breath tickling your face seconds before you felt his thin lips rest upon yours.

The kiss was chaste and quick and you immediately regretted feeling the loss of his lips upon yours, a low groan of displeasure as he pulled away;  _Volpe_  rested his forehead against yours in a sweet and heartwarming demeanor, noses touching and tickling with every intake and exhale of breath upon skin. “Finally”, he muttered in a hushed voice, nuzzling into you as you shuddered in his arms.

_Volpe_  caressed your jaw with both of his thumbs, head tilting slightly to press into you a bit more as your good hand came up to hold his arm against your collarbone and, in a heartbeat, you knew your position and disponibility in and to the order would remain untouched — although you felt like you  _would_  be participating into much more sneaking missions than before. 

**Author's Note:**

> \- Merda - Shit
> 
> \- Coglione - Moron, idiot. Can also mean asshole.
> 
> \- Isola Tiberina - Tiber Island 
> 
> \- Grazie - Thank you
> 
> \- Mia dama - My lady


End file.
